Coolpix 3500 battery USB transfer

When I plug it into my Windows XP USB port to transfer pictures and
turn the camera onto playback, as I've always done, nothing happens.

Need advice!

More details - the PC doesn't pop up the little messages saying it
sees the camera, then the various transfer windows. Same USB port
sees my thumb drive just fine. Haven't changed the software on the PC
at all, except a few of Microsoft's famous security updates.

There may be a battery issue?

Have had the 3500 for about eighteen months now, used it happily for
the first year, haven't had it out of the closet for at least six
months now. Took it out, turned it on, of course the battery
indicator was on. Took out the battery, put in charger, light stayed
on for a while, then finally started blinking. Confused about whether
blink meant charging or done, I took it out probably still just
half-charged. So far fine. Took a dozen flash pictures, then screen
displayed, "Battery exhausted!" message. I turned off camera, and it
didn't seem to do the normal shutdown procedure.

Went home, charged the battery a bit more, still confused about the
blink so only charged for a few minutes, but when I put it in the
camera, it seems to be operating normally (as I write, battery is in
charger and charger is blinking, and I'm letting it continue,
finally!) So, boot the PC, plug cable into USB, camera onto cable,
turn on camera in playback mode, and two anomalies. First, in past,
playback mode with cable plugged in left camera display dark. This
time, my last photo shows on display. Hmm? Second, the PC does not
pop up USB messages recognizing camera. I wiggle cables. Turn camera
off. Turn camera on. Unplug. Retry. Unplug. Stick thumb drive in
same USB slot - fine. Remove. Look up camera doc on playback mode -
I've never done anything before but connect the cables, flip the
switch, then use Windows Explorer to drag and drop pics off the card
onto the PC. I press the "transfer" button on the camera, and it
asks, "create small picture file?" I say yes. Hourglass. OK.
Picture again. Hmm. I repeat, but this time say no. Hmm. Repeat
process. PC still doesn't announce it sees camera.

(maybe cable has gone bad?)

I just wonder if the camera or files on card are in some weird mode
because of the "battery exhausted" shutdown I did.

Or, if the weak battery is preventing the USB handshake from working.

One other unlikely factor - I hand-created a new Img0005 directory in
the PC's "My Pictures" directory before I started. Maybe this is bad
and confused the transfer? But I'd think that wouldn't stop the USB
messages from occurring.

Or, one of the supposedly innocuous Microsoft security updates has
somehow interfered with the USB camera recognition? Seems quite
unlikely.

--

OK, I didn't take the battery out of the camera when not using it for
long periods. Bugger. So now it probably has battery-memory issues.
I'll spring the $29 for a new Nikon battery, or maybe $17 for a clone
(any advice on that? Staples has one that claims "no memory effects")

The four or so pictures I took and kept seem to be OK on the card, but
I want to transfer them!

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The battery now seems to have charged up correctly, the camera does
not display the indicator.

I took another picture, went back and tried the transfer again, and
.... I gather neither the PC nor the camera detects it is plugged in.
It's like the camera's USB port has failed (or cable?). I've wiggled
and jiggled a hundred times.

It now occurs to me that I *did* install the drivers for a new inkjet
printer, the Canon i550, since last using the camera. But officially,
XP Pro sp1 doesn't even know that the Coolpix *is* a camera, it's just
a USB disk to XP, isn't it?

I started up the NikonView 5 program, plugged in the camera ONE MORE
TIME, and (a) the little USB popups did not occur, but (b) the big
"how do you want to transfer?" box *did* pop up, the camera display
stayed dark - PC and camera did see each other, and I did get my
pictures.

But the behavior is still not as expected, and I'm still looking for
any similar stories, hints, tips, or even solid information.

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:56:39 +1000, "Bud" <>
wrote:
>> But the behavior is still not as expected, and I'm still looking for
>> any similar stories, hints, tips, or even solid information.
>
>Just reinstall the coolpix software - I had to do it here recently cause it
>decided to stop transferring automatically

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